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Gathering has been confirmed!! We'll be meeting at 6PM on FRIDAY NIGHT at G4, which is the outdoor concrete area on the Marriott side of the con center! Yahoooo see you there!!

Hell YES!!! I'm going to be judgement nishiki. Wanted to do Izo from Ishin but that'll be for next year :)

I don't know if I'll be able to get the day off yet lol but interested in co-hosting if you need help.

YAYYYY NISHIKI!!! MY BELOVED!!!!! I hope there's a Judgment Kiryu there too!

I'll show up most likely as Yagami from Judgment, and I have a friend who will show up as either Kaito or Saejima!

Kyoudai, it is time! I wanted to make sure to submit something since there wasn't a gathering last year ;_;  Absolutely happy to co-host! Please DM me if interested!

Name of the gathering: Yakuza/Like a Dragon/RGG Gathering
This Gathering Includes : Any characters from any games from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios:
- Yakuza 0-6
- Like a Dragon (7), Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (8), Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Ishin, Kenzan, Fist of the North Star, Kurohyo 1-2, Gaiden, Dead Souls
- Judgment, Lost Judgment

Day : Friday Night B)
Time : 6PM! Confirmed!
Location (L) : G4 (Marriott Side!)

Cosplayers :
ph1shf00d: Yagami or Majima
Saunafrog: Kaito or Saejima
apples4ryuk: Judgment Nishiki

Legal Statement-Fanime will be taking group pictures during the Gathering/Event this year. If you do not want to be included in those pictures please step aside for those photos. By remaining with the group when the pictures are being taken you give your consent to be photographed.

Photo Order
- Mainline Yakuza games (0-6)
- Like a Dragon games (7, 8, Pirate Yakuza)
- Judgment/Lost Judgment
- "Historical" Spinoffs (Kenzan, Ishin)
- Other spinoffs (Gaiden, Kurohyo, Fist of the North Star, Dead Souls)
- Majima everywhere!

Oh shit. I have no idea, hahaha.  I guess it kinda depends on what I really want to commit myself to next year... There are dozens of cosplays I really, really want to do.  If I can manage it by Fanime, though, I'd like to do some TF2 (Medic and Sniper especially) cosplay, and maybe Shikamaru.  Even though I don't really like Naruto anymore, Shikamaru's been a character I've wanted to cosplay well for a really long time. :]

Haha, dunno how many times he's been mentioned in this thread, but YES. 9001th-ing David Hayter!  More of the MGS cast would be great too.. Christopher Walken~~~ *w*

Eiichiro Oda would be my dream guest.  Kubo TIte being at SDCC gave me a little bit of hope, although... Oda is considerably more popular in Japan, so I guess getting him to come over here would be ten different levels of insanely difficult.  Still, while we're dreaming.. Haha.

Well at the very least with more awareness of what is going on and vigilance people will be more on the look out for this kind of thing and if need be re-write the AA policies to try and clamp down on these kind of misdeeds.

Personally I'm very dissapointed at Otakon's response. Only so many people can all say the same thing about those prints before it's more then a simple "he said, she said" kind of deal. I'm relying on Fanime and other cons to at least step up and prevent this from ever happening again.

While a swift and decisive punishment would probably be pretty gratifying to a lot of people, I can understand why Otakon is being sort of "soft" on these two.  Like stated earlier, it's hard to turn this into a stark black-and-white sort of situation in a legal sense, so it'd be difficult to come up with a proper answer to this problem.  Somehow, I think other cons explicitly blacklisting those two might bring up more problems.  After all, we haven't had such an incident happen specifically at Fanime.  In a legal sense, I think it's kind of dodgy to punish people because of things they've done at other conventions.  Buut that's all up to the convention staff.

Whatever happens, though, they're still going to be feeling the effects of their misdeeds.  They might still make money at the conventions they go to, but you can be sure that they won't be making as much as they used to and that their experiences probably won't be very pleasant considering how darkly they've tarnished their reputations.  They might have to watch their backs from now on. ;]

That would be awesome.  It seemed like there was a bit of a scramble this year, but I think things got smoothed out, which is great.

I don't know if this is totally relevant to the thread, but in addition to an expanded AA, it'd be good to exercise a little bit of caution when dealing with artists or other congoers.  There was recently a colossal shitstorm in the Otakon AA because a certain artist booked 14 different tables throughout the alley.  Long story short, things pretty much exploded and now there's a ragefest going on about the artist in question along with the Otakon staff for not doing anything.  I'd hate for that sort of thing to happen in the Fanime AA ;_;

I didn't have any huge problems with the elevators (the Marriott one went REALLY fast though.  Horrible cases of vertigo all around, haha) and several minutes' wait wasn't that bad, but I know lots of people had trouble with them.

I guess as a kind reminder to cut down on traffic and maybe make thing easier for everyone, it'd be nice if people on, say, the 3~5th floors could use the stairs if they don't have any luggage to carry.  If it takes too long to wait for an elevator or there are too many people in one, it definitely makes a lot more sense to just use the stairs, doesn't it?

Also, could it be possible to somehow restrict any "elevator tag" games going on?  It's just a nuisance for people who actually need to use the elevators.  It doesn't make sense that people who need to get into their rooms to sleep or get supplies for tables, panels, etc. to wait longer just because some fuckheaded kids want to chase each other around in elevators. =T

I'm not very big on buying stuff in the Dealer's Hall, but I'll browse around for any obscure things that I'd like to have... Kaiji/Akagi/Fukumoto memorabilia would be freakin' awesome.  I just got into Kaiji and Akagi and would love some merch  *w*  Maybe some Gurren Lagann stuff too.  Possibly some doujins...

I'm aiming to spend a lot in the Artist's Alley this year, though.  Fanime's AA is pretty formidable, and I'm sure I'll find tons of artists I like there.  I want to splurge on them XD Support the artists!  Hell yeah!

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago telling me a confirmation will come soon, but not the confirmation itself. ;_;

Same... 

Has anyone got alot of things done yet?  We may be having to rush things since May is around the corner. D:

HAHAHA OH WOW.  I FAIL SO HARD.

...No D: Haven't started, and now that you mention it, I really do need to get going... Hopefully I'll  be able to start on my digital art by this month. 

I'm so retarded, though.  I've been making list after list of what I'm going to be bringing to the convention, but haven't started on any of it XD

Woo!  Can't wait for my table at Fanime... It's gonna be my first "big" con, and I'm excited.  Slightly intimidated, but mostly excited. =D

Yeah, what Chloe said pretty much sums it up.  AA is more fun for talking to people and making friends with other artists. XD <3

You have really cute chibis, so if you're not too confident in your non-chibi art, you could probably do okay with those.

Your general body anatomy seems okay, but could use a bit more detail and definition.  The proportions get kinda wonky in some pics, but you should be able to clear that up after plenty of practice.  Look at some anatomy books to figure out the general proportions of the human body and the placement of limbs or other parts of the body in certain poses.

Might want to work on your facial anatomy a bit too.  Generally, you tend to space out your facial features too much, and sometimes you draw your eyes too big.  You'll want to keep some general "rules-of-thumb" in mind when you're drawing faces, as far as proportioning goes.  Remember that in most human faces:
- The eyes are in the middle of the head.  It helps to draw an oval for the head shape, and then draw a line in the middle of that.  That line is where your eyes should be.
-THe distance between the eyes should be about one "eye."  So you could draw three eyes right next to each other on that middle line, then erase the eye in the middle.  That's what it should be in theory, anyway.  Stylistically, you'll want to adjust that to what you feel looks good for that particular face or character.

In realism, people tend to use the length of the eyes as measuring devices for everything else on the face.  It's kinda weird, but it works (Thanks, Da Vinci).  Of course, anime isn't realism, so those rules usually don't apply, BUT you still want to practice a bit of realism before you do anime so you can get a grasp of what a well-proportioned human face looks like.  After that, you can adjust those proportions to how you see fit.

Aside from that, you also want to work on your linework and shading a bit.  Sometimes, the difference between a really nice picture and a really crappy one is just the lineart.  Good lines are usually smooth and have varying depth/thickness in different places (usually where there's more shadow, etc.).  Try practicing long, smooth strokes with varying lengths with a brush or an inking pen or something.  I'd suggest an actual pen nib, since they have a lot of width variation, but it IS possible to practice with Microns/multiliners too.  For CGing, good lineart's a bit more of a pain to do.  IN short, it'll involve a lot of re-drawing and erasing, even if you have a pressure-sensitive tablet.

For shading/coloring, that's something you'll have to learn by constant observation.  Shadows don't just stick to the edges of the lineart- shadows are cast to define the form of an object, or otherwise "give it life."  It's something you kinda have to look at and learn by observation.

Just practice a lot and never give up! 

Are these just movies or can we include dramas too?

And hopefully it's not just restricted to Japanese stuff. ;O

I think a lot of people would enjoy the K-Drama 'Coffee Prince.'  It's pretty similar to Ouran (crossdressing girl working with a bunch of guys).

Also seconding Kimi Wa Pet.  I read a bit of the manga but would love to see the live action for it. =D

Pyron, I'm not going to through and reply to your argument bit by bit.

I will answer that last question, though. 

I'm "whiteknighting" her just because I'm against your overall attitude over this.  You said it yourself- attitude greatly reflects how a person's going to do a job or how they're going to approach the problem.  In that case, it seems like your attitude reflects how much you hate the idea of a Maid Cafe in Fanime, because honestly, all you've been doing is criticizing (which isn't that bad- people learn from criticism)  and, more importantly, discouraging potential volunteers.  I'm not talking about revealing what being a maid really entails, but with your mentality that these people are going to do a shitty job with this event.

Just because the Maid Cafe had a disorganized and inaccurate run last year, doesn't mean that every volunteer this year is going to be a bitchy, whiny, lazy, and sloppy maid like they presumably were last year.  It's uncalled for to criticize interested people for simply showing interest, no matter where those interests may lie.  And I still think you're looking too far into what some of the people say on these forums.  It seriously sounds like you're totally sure that someone is a lazy and unfocused coquette who couldn't do a good job at working hard just because they say they like dresses. 

If you don't want a Maid Cafe at Fanime, just say so.  Create another thread about how you think the maid cafe is a bad idea and how resources from that possible event could go to another one instead of creating a failure like the one last year.  Maybe if you're nice about it, people will agree with you.  And hey, you might get enough support to get rid of this event and you'd be achieving your goal. If that isn't your mentality on this event, well, hell, how was I supposed to know?  Shutting down potential volunteers and bitching about how shitty the staff was last year certainly paints the image that you hate the idea of another maid cafe at Fanime.

It's unlikely that you'll ever end your ceaseless bitching of the planning of this event, so it'd be futile for me to try to suggest that you stop your involvement with it.  I will ask that you stop being so hostile to some of the people who are simply EXPRESSING AN INTEREST in this event.   Castigating them simply because their interest in working at a maid cafe is different from yours is just narrow minded and unproductive, and we could probably do without any of that.

This is such a poor analogy I don't even know why you stated it. You're comparing end result, to doing something because of getting to where the costume while doing it. It's like stating "I want to be a fireman... because I like what the costume looks like". Your example is. "Eating a cake you baked yourself is good".

Why?  Because they're similar enough.  They're certainly not the same, but regardless, both require plenty of work in order to produce a good result.  For cosplay, it's a good costume.  For a maid cafe, it's an authentic experience/excellent customer service.  The focus isn't on who is doing what, it's what you'll do in order to produce your desired result. 

Sorry if my lack of debating skills aren't up to your standards. =/ 

You still don't get it do you? You go into something with a mentallity. People are going into this with a mentallity of "OH HEY IT'S FUN MAID CAFE I DRESS UPS AND I ACT CUTES IT WILL BE SO AWESOMES!" despite not knowing a damned thing about what they have to do, how they're supposed to act, the entire point and purpose, or anything like that. It's not about crushing enthusiasm, it's about making people understand what exactly they're doing. Want to know a major issue with last year? Maid's complained because they felt it was sexist and degrading to call customers "master". LOOK AT THE JOB YOU SIGNED UP FOR. You volunteered to be a maid, and you don't want to call someone master? [/size]

What's so wrong with holding that mentality if it's enough to get a good job done?  If people are that determined to have fun dressing in cute clothes and playing the part of a maid in a maid cafe, then as long as they work to the best of their ability and fulfill the standards required of them, is it such a big deal?  If they're willing to learn everything about being a maid in a maid cafe, if they work diligently in all of their training in order to be the most accurate imitation of a maid possible, is it that bad that they were interested in this job because of frilly bows and dresses?

And if they don't know about what working as a maid entails, would it be that terrible to, you know, TEACH them?  I'm sure plenty of people are willing to learn everything they need to learn to make the Maid Cafe accurate as possible.  There will probably be lots of people dropping out once they get some preliminary info, sure, but there will also probably be people who still want to follow through. 

Last year was the first time Fanime did the Maid Cafe so whatever went on then can probably be fixed for this year.  Just because last year's maid weren't as well-trained or informed as they were supposed to be, doesn't mean that this year's volunteers will be the same way.  From what I heard, the Maid Cafe was a fairly popular event despite all of its shortcomings.  There will probably be people who are interested in it again this year.  There might be people who saw all the shortcomings of last year's MC who want to come back this year to try to make it better.  Either way, it's going to be different people and a different way of doing things.

If you have a little "wow fun fun fun this will be fun because I will be cutes and wear a dress" attitude, frankly, I personally don't think you'll do a good job because that attitude reflects a lot of what you think about the project as a whole. Sure, you could be totally different, but hey... I'm looking at it realistically. It's like someone going into a job interview at a game company and going "I love video games, they are my life, they are so great, I want to work on games so much because I love them!" Chances are, they won't get hired, because they show that they think their job is a play field, more than work, and dedication.

Realistically?  Maybe. How about with a more open mind? 

Yes, your attitude can affects how well you do the job.  However, I don't see how enjoying dresses and looking cute is that far detached from working in a maid cafe.  Is it because I'm just another ignorant weeaboo?  Yeah, sure, that might just be it.  That aside, people think maids are endearing, which is probably a part of the reason why maid cafes are so popular.  So when a fangirl thinks working in a maid cafe would be fun because of the attention and because it's "cute," they're not totally far from the truth.  If the volunteer thinks that the job is about wearing pretty dresses and being a cute maid, then let them.  The problem is if they don't pull through with acting the "maid" part and are just in it for the superficial reasons.  But like I said earlier, I really don't think it matters that much what the volunteer thinks if they're willing to work hard to get the maid part down.  If someone is that willing to work that hard to achieve their goal of wearing pretty dresses and acting like a cute maid for a bunch of customers, then where's the problem?

Yes, they can enjoy themselves while working. Here, I'll put it into realistics as to why things like this exist. And hell, I'll even use a great example to retrospect it.

Culture week in Japan. A class puts a maid cafe on as their class theme. Chances are, according to who organizes it, will show the accuracy as to what the maid cafe will be, and as to what they're aiming for. Now, it's a LOT of work for these classes to put these events on, and each class member has to put in a lot of time and effort into doing it. Why do they do it? Because they support and care about their class, and they want to share the experience with friends and classmates... but regardless they go into it, KNOWING there will be a lot of hardwork, and a lot of effort that needs to be put in.

Now in that situation, people are enthusiastic and want to do it, that's great... that's what is supposed to happen and what people are supposed to get out of it.

Let's look at it from a different perspective now. You're throwing a play, and the lead role is a princess. Someone jumps out and goes "I want to do the lead role because I want to wear the princess dress!" Are you going to go "YAY YOU, YOU CAN DO IT THEN!" If you do, then I fear for the casting and production of the play.

Frankly, if her main focus is to wear a maid dress... then her head is definitely in the wrong place when considering joining a project like this, and seriously, she's probably wasting her time and should just wear a made costume and walk around the halls and enjoy the con. If she wants to support the idea/project and work dilligently and learn how to act and actually put a lot of effort into this project, then that's a different story.

If all she wanted to do was to wear a maid dress to a convention, I doubt she would've posted here in the first place.  There's the cosplay forum for that.  Most anime fans have an idea of what a maid cafe is like, even if it isn't perfectly accurate.  However it's portrayed in anime is appealing, and I'm sure plenty of people are interested in learning more about that experience, the people in this thread included.

I think you were taking Jecca's response too literally.  When she says "any excuse to wear a dress," I'm pretty sure she wasn't trying to say "I'm just in it for the pretty dress, screw the hard work."  The maid outfit might be one reason why she wants to participate, but it certainly may not be the only one.  A lot of girls will probably be attracted to the maid cafe because of the dresses, but some of them will probably end up being genuinely interested in the experience of working as a maid too.   But again, just because their initial attraction was because of something superficial, doesn't mean that the rest of their reasons for working in a maid cafe will be the same.

Pyron, again, no one was trying to say that they were going to ditch all responsibility and do a shoddy job just for the sake of some fun.  I mean, people talk about how "fun" cosplaying is all the time.  And yeah, it can be really fun.  But do people talk about all the work that goes into constructing a good costume?  They may point out some of the difficulties they had while making the costume, but most people who really enjoy cosplaying are quicker to point out how well their photos came out, or perhaps how much fun it was meeting other cosplayers from their series. Does that at all change how much time and effort they put into the costume?  Probably not, and if people can tell that the costume was well-made, then they're appreciating the effort that the person put into making it.

I can understand complaining about a job poorly done AFTER its been done, but complaining about/assuming  a half-assed job before it's even happened?  That's a bit harsh, don't you think?  After reading this thread I know you were burned by last year's Maid Cafe because of how inaccurately it portrayed actual Maid Cafes, but you really don't have to try to shut down every bit of optimism people may have for a hopefully-improved Cafe this year. 

This is just an interest thread.  Just because someone says that they think it'd be fun to look cute or because they're just casually interested in the event, doesn't mean they're making a commitment to be as ignorant or lazy a volunteer as possible.  Once the planning gets underway, people can choose to commit to this task despite how difficult it may be, and if they still want to follow through with volunteering even after they've done their research, I think it'd be safe to say that they'll take their job seriously enough.

And just because there aren't many perks for working as a maid in a cafe in Japan, doesn't guarantee that there won't be any perks for volunteering as a maid in a cafe in an American anime convention.  The staff may try to imitate Japanese Maid Cafes as closely as possible, but they still won't be able to change the environmental and cultural factors that will probably surround the event.  If the volunteer maids at Fanime's maid cafe end up having a great time working there, there's definitely a chance that it won't be because they were slacking off or just enjoyed showing off their pretty dresses.  Even while working hard, they might have a great time accommodating appreciative anime fans.

Like Jecca said, lighten up.  It really isn't impossible to have fun while still working hard and creating a really enjoyable and generally accurate Maid Cafe. 

Unless, of course, pulling long, exhausting hours devoid of any enjoyment whatsoever is an integral part of the cultural accuracy of imitating a Maid Cafe. =/

Who said that she wasn't going to?  She just said that she likes to dress up cute, and there's really nothing wrong with that.  Even if there's hard work to do, there are plenty of perks to being a maid, I'm sure, and you don't really have to jump on her because she wants to enjoy one aspect of being a maid in a cafe. =/

I thought anime conventions and all the events that go on inside them were meant to be, oh, I dunno, fun?

Yeah, I'm guessing that's what's gonna happen, but I don't mind that at all either.  It's standard procedures for most cons, so no big deal.^^

What would be really nice, though, is if I could lend out my space to someone who wants/needs an artist's alley table for a part of the weekend.  Fanime seems to be pretty confident with its table allocation for the AA, which is great (I've heard a lot of nitemareish stories regarding some AA's where tables sold out in like, an hour after registration opens and stuff x_X ), but if there's an artist out there who's low on funds or something, I'd like to help them out :D  Or if like another artist's group need an extra table in addition to their regular booth, that'd be cool too.

Or I could just use the table as a place to chill during the convention without having to actually sell anything XD Buuuut yeah~

Extremely fun to watch, but makes a better soundtrack than movie.  Mad props to the delicious Obi Wa...I mean, Ewan MacGregor ;D <3 

HAHAHAHA Cloverfield XDDD

@Kandybar- Probably not the whole weekend... I'm guessing just on Friday and Saturday or something.  Hopefully I can do that.  If I can't, then I guess I'm stuck there for all four days XD